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William Shakespeare Quotes
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698 Quotes Revealing Timeless Wisdom on Love, Trust, and Human Nature

Discover the timeless wisdom of William Shakespeare through his most famous quotes. From the complexities of love to the depths of human nature, these insightful words will captivate and inspire. Explore Shakespeare's profound observations on trust, beauty, love, and the inevitability of death.

William Shakespeare is widely considered to be the greatest writer in the English language and one of the most influential playwrights of all time. Born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, he married Anne Hathaway at a young age and went on to have three children. In London, he established a successful career as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing company. Shakespeare's works include 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three narrative poems, and various other verses. His plays have been translated into numerous languages and continue to be studied and performed worldwide.

Shakespeare's early works were comedies and histories, showcasing his mastery in these genres. Later in his career, he focused more on tragedies such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, which are regarded as some of the finest works in English literature. In his later years, he wrote tragicomedies and collaborated with other playwrights. While little is known about his personal life, there has been ongoing speculation about his physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether some of his works were actually written by others. His legacy lives on through the enduring popularity of his plays and the continued exploration of his profound impact on literature.

✵ 1564 – 23. April 1616
William Shakespeare photo
William Shakespeare: 699 quotes1104 likes

William Shakespeare Quotes

“For you, in my respect, are all the world.
Then how can it be said I am alone
When all the world is here to look on me?”

William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream

Source: A Midsummer Night's Dream

“For it falls out
That what we have we prize not to the worth
Whiles we enjoy it, but being lacked and lost,
Why, then we rack the value, then we find
The virtue that possession would not show us
While it was ours.”

William Shakespeare book Much Ado About Nothing

Source: Much Ado About Nothing

“We burn daylight.”

William Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet

Source: Romeo and Juliet

“Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.”

William Shakespeare The Tempest

Source: The Tempest

“Give me that man that is not passion's slave, and I will wear him in my heart's core, in my heart of heart, as I do thee.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

“I must be gone and live, or stay and die.”

William Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet

Source: Romeo and Juliet

“If there is a good will, there is great way.”

William Shakespeare

“Take pains. Be perfect.”

William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream

Source: A Midsummer Night's Dream

“Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use; and keep thy friend
Under thy own life's key: be check'd for silence,
But never tax'd for speech.”

William Shakespeare All's Well That Ends Well

Source: All's Well That Ends Well

“Give me my sin again.”

William Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet

Source: Romeo and Juliet

“O, swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circle orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.”

William Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet

Source: Romeo and Juliet

“My Crown is in my heart, not on my head:
Not deck'd with Diamonds, and Indian stones:
Nor to be seen: my Crown is call'd Content,
A Crown it is, that seldom Kings enjoy.”

William Shakespeare

Variant: My crown is in my heart, not on my head; not decked with diamonds and Indian stones, nor to be seen: my crown is called content, a crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.
Source: King Henry VI, Part 3

“Why, I can smile and murder whiles I smile,
And cry 'content' to that which grieves my heart,
And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,
And frame my face for all occasions”

William Shakespeare

Source: King Henry VI, Part 3

“Give thy thoughts no tongue.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

“Go girl, seek happy nights to happy days”

William Shakespeare

“All is fair in love and war”

William Shakespeare

“Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell.”

William Shakespeare

“Madam, you have bereft me of all words,
Only my blood speaks to you in my veins”

William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice

Source: The Merchant of Venice

“You must take your chance.”

William Shakespeare

“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Polonius, Act I, scene iii.
Hamlet (1600–1)

“That deep torture may be called a hell,
When more is felt than one hath power to tell.”

William Shakespeare book The Rape of Lucrece

The Rape of Lucrece.

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”

William Shakespeare Julius Caesar

Cassius, Act I, scene ii.
Variant: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Source: Julius Caesar

“Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Variant: Doubt thou the stars are fire
Doubt thou the sun doth move
Doubt truth to be a liar
But never doubt I love
Source: Hamlet

“This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

“If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.”

William Shakespeare Twelfth Night

Source: Twelfth Night

“All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.”

William Shakespeare As You Like It

Jaques, Act II, scene vii.
Variant: All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
Source: As You Like It (1599–1600)

“You speak an infinite deal of nothing.”

William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice

Source: The Merchant of Venice

“Though she be but little, she is fierce!”

William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream

Source: A Midsummer Night's Dream

“My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart concealing it will break.”

William Shakespeare The Taming of the Shrew

Source: The Taming of the Shrew

“These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triump die, like fire and powder
Which, as they kiss, consume”

William Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet

Source: Romeo and Juliet

“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.”

William Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet

Source: Romeo and Juliet

“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream

Puck, Act III, scene ii.
Variant: Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
Source: A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595)

“thus with a kiss I die”

William Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet

Source: Romeo and Juliet

“Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”

William Shakespeare book Romeo and Juliet

Variant: Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight till it be morrow.
Source: Romeo and Juliet

“To die, to sleep -
To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub,
For in this sleep of death what dreams may come…”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

“All that glisters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.”

William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice

Source: The Merchant of Venice

“Our doubts are traitors,
and make us lose the good we oft might win,
by fearing to attempt.”

William Shakespeare Measure for Measure

Source: Measure for Measure

“To weep is to make less the depth of grief.”

William Shakespeare

Source: King Henry VI, Part 3

“Expectation is the root of all heartache.”

William Shakespeare

“Brevity is the soul of wit.”

William Shakespeare Hamlet

Source: Hamlet

“The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.”

William Shakespeare Henry VI (play) Part 1-3

Dick the Butcher, Act IV, scene ii.
Henry VI, Part 2 (1592)
Source: King Henry VI, Part 2

“How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world.”

William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice

Source: The Merchant of Venice

“I can see he's not in your good books,' said the messenger.
'No, and if he were I would burn my library.”

William Shakespeare book Much Ado About Nothing

Source: Much Ado About Nothing